Hey, there! I'm late weighing in, but I quit a pack-and-a-half-a-day habit in 1990. The only thing that I've found more difficult is losing weight.
Two things I found that helped. First, I asked my doc for something, and he put me on a patch for high BP that calmed me a bit. It got me through that first 2 weeks, which is when the addiction part is pretty fierce. It took another 6 months or so to really kick the psychological cravings, but - and here's the second thing that helped - I kept reminding myself that, at that point, it wasn't addiction any longer, but emotion, and that if I let myself smoke even one more cig, I was going to have to kick the addiction again. Take it one day at a time, resolve not to smoke today, and every time you get the urge, remind yourself that every day you can knuckle through, it gets a little easier, and that's one more day you won't ever have to go through again if you just don't smoke.
To this day, every once in a while, I will get an urge. I really LIKED to smoke - loved that wee little high you got from the first cig in the morning. But none of it's worth starting up again. I'm really glad I quit, and I never want to go back there.
It's worth the white knuckles. Hang in there.
Now WEIGHT LOSS, that's another thing. You can't quit eating cold turkey, and every time you eat, you risk OVER eating. It's MUCH harder, IMO. I've never managed to do it for keeps. Most people don't.
L